Radar sensor signal acquisition and 3D FFT processing for smart mobility surveillance systems

The paper presents the design and test of a compact multi-channel platform for acquisition and real-time processing of Radar sensor signals. The sensing system includes a multi-channel X-band transceiver, implementing a linear frequency-modulated continuous wave scheme, plus an FPGA processor implementing sensor signal processing chain. The latter includes ROI (Region of Interest Selection), 3D FFT, peak detection, alarm decision logic, data calibration and diagnostic. The FPGA also manages data communication with external hosts. The Radar sensing system allows detecting moving and still targets with covered range of 300 m and a resolution better than 40 cm. The sensor is suited for operations in urban scenarios like surveillance of railroad crossing and road crossing, monitoring of cars parking, with increased robustness vs. LIDAR, camera or ultrasounds techniques. The sensor has a low power consumption and low weight, and hence can be mounted on-board vehicles such as cars or UAVs for aerial surveillance of smart cities.